Yesterday the Berlin based Peng! collective together with Theater Dortmund has created a hoax: a campaign of Merkels CDU party, that addresses the party's position on gun export laws and its contradiction to the christian values that the CDU stands for. The fake politician in the video called out the chancellor to work towards ending exports of guns.

In practice, Germany is among the five most active weapon exporting countries and thus shares responsibility in fueling conflicts over the world.

The hoax was picked up by media worldwide including New York Times, Fox News, Daily Mail and, most importantly, Radio Vatican. The collective revealed the hoax on the same day and made a stand against rising small arms exports in Germany.

The hoax sparked an intense debate about the difference between fake news and satire in the German media. "Fake news usually aims to confuse and manipulate the audience, while our work aims to educate the audience and stimulate a critical debate pointing out the social injustice and the double standards of politics." Jessica Gräber from Peng! says, "Revealing the fake, enhancing reflection and taking position on the topic is a crucial part of our work. Furthermore, Fake News are usually spread in order to maintain and increase political power, whereas satire and hacked news aim to question and criticize the dominating power relationships."

For more information on Peng collective visit www.pen.gg and to find out more about recent campaigns visit